Bio

The Burclaff Lab studies regulatory networks that control energetics and stem cell activity in the mammalian intestinal epithelium. We seek to help define what controls mitochondrial load and activity in epithelial cells and how these dynamic changes affect homeostatic maintenance, plasticity following injury, and drug responses, as well as how dysregulation can affect disease development and progression.

Dr Burclaff starting studying the GI tract during his doctoral studies at Washington University in St Louis under the mentorship of Dr Jason Mills MD,PhD. He studied the mouse stomach, gaining novel insights into damage responses and homeostatic maintenance within the epithelial glands of the gastric corpus. From there, he completed postdoctoral studies at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, under the mentorship of Dr Scott Magness PhD, where he led the compilation of a single cell transcriptomic atlas of the full human small and large intestines and learned cutting-ede techniques in culturing, genetically modifying, and analyzing primary human intestinal stem cells. As Research Faculty at UNC, Dr. Burclaff pioneered methods for visualizing and quantifying cell cycle phases in freely-growing primary human intestinal stem cell cultures. He further identified a novel transcriptional program that regulates cell cycle progression and characterized their downstream effects on drug sensitivity.

As Assistant Professor of Gastroenterology at NCSU, Dr. Burclaff aims to merge this animal and human work in a multi-pronged approach to better understand intestinal stem and progenitor cells. The Burclaff Lab continues to advance live-cell reporters and their platforms and in vitro and animal models of injury and disease development to define mitochondrial dynamics in health, injury, and disease, what regulates these dynamic changes, and how these programs affect stem cell activity, proliferation, plasticity, and full intestinal function.

Area(s) of Expertise

Genetically modulating transcription regulatory networks and characterizing effects on intestinal biology.

Genetically engineered primary human intestinal stem cell cultures and animal models for intestinal homeostasis, injury, and disease.

Multifaceted tracking and analysis of metabolism, energetics, and mitochondrial dynamics

Advancing platforms for genetically engineering cells, imaging and analyzing live cell reporters.

Identifying new mechanisms involved in fate decisions, plasticity, and disease development.

Publications

• Guiding Principles: Reporting Elements for Gastrointestinal Organoid Research , Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology (2026)
• Affinity Peptides With pH Sensitivity for the Enrichment of CD38 ^{+ Cells} , Biotechnology and Bioengineering (2025)
• Cathartocytosis: Jettisoning of cellular material during reprogramming of differentiated cells , Cell Reports (2025)
• GENETICALLY MODIFIED PRIMARY HUMAN INTESTINAL STEM CELLS SHOW SOX9 REPRESSES CELL CYCLE PROGRESSION VIA THE INK4A/RB1 AXIS , GASTROENTEROLOGY (2025)
• Sex Differences in Colonic Inflammation are Driven by Epithelial-Specific Expression of Estrogen Receptor Alpha , Gastro Hep Advances (2025)
• Transcriptional regulation of mitochondrial metabolism in human intestinal stem cells , (2025)
• An in vitro platform for quantifying cell cycle phase lengths in primary human intestinal epithelial cells , Scientific Reports (2024)
• Cathartocytosis: Jettisoning of Unwanted Material during Cellular Reprogramming , bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (2024)
• Gastric intestinal metaplasia: progress and remaining challenges , Journal of Gastroenterology (2024)
• IDENTIFYING TRANSCRIPTIONAL REGULATORS OF MITOCHONDRIAL METABOLISM IN HUMAN INTESTINAL STEM CELLS , GASTROENTEROLOGY (2024)

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